Who plays the game the right way...?

[Moose Milligan]

Tejadas been the boards whipping boy for quite awhile now....most of his detractors love to jump up and down and say he doesn't hustle.

Just wondering who you think plays the game the right way, who hustles 100% of the time.

Talking with Burds the other night, we were discussing Jeter. Yeah, you hate Jeter, but you gotta love him at the same time.

Biggio always seemed to be the type of player who maxed it all out.

Past or present.

[scarey1999]

Dykstra and Byrnes are the first two that come to mind for me tonight, past and present.

[blueberryale77]

Jeter's attitude/character/whatever is far more overrated than his playing. To me playing the game the right way means putting the team before your ego. If Jeter played the game the right way he'd be playing 2B, Robbie Cano would've been trade bate (or moved to 3B... he has a pretty strong arm and might actually be better suited there), and ARod would be at SS.

That being said, he probably plays closer to "the right way" than most MLers.

As for who does play the game the right way...

Orioles:

Brian Roberts when he's not too busy being depressed about how bad his team is

Nick Markakis (same as above although he lacks the cute pouty look)

Luis Hernandez

Chris Gomez

Jeremy Guthrie

Others who come to mind:

The infamous Mr. Eckstein

Damion Easley

Omar Vizquel

Tadahito Iguchi

Maybe I'll think of more later. The players who stand out to a lot of people in this regard tend to have one or more of the following characteristics:

1) they are older ("playing the game the right way" is a dying art)

2) they are middle infielders

3) they are smaller than the average MLB player

4) they are not huge superstars nor do they posess obscene physical talent

5) they are sons of coaches

6) they are white (I made a conscious effort not to be racist above... I'm confident everyone I listed belongs on the list but there might be a couple white guys who could have made it if I weren't trying to mitigate "scrappy little white guy" syndrome. I do, however, think "scrappy little white guy syndrome" has at least as much to do with the coaching players receive as children as it does with fans/media perceiving them differently due to race.)

Now, playing the game the right way doesn't mean you play it well... Brandon Fahey, for example, plays the game the right way but he should really be doing that at AAA.

[RShack]

Jeter's attitude/character/whatever is far more overrated than his playing. To me playing the game the right way means putting the team before your ego. If Jeter played the game the right way he'd be playing 2B, Robbie Cano would've been trade bate (or moved to 3B... he has a pretty strong arm and might actually be better suited there), and ARod would be at SS.

I agree with you about this.

I know a guy who's a MFY fan who thinks the sun shines out of Jeter's butt. When I learned that ARod would be moving to 3B because of Jeter, I told him right then that the Baseball Gods would not permit them a WS ring as long as they have the best SS in the history of mankind playing out of position. With each passing year, he more-and-more doesn't want to revisit the issue.

I think Jeter is a great hitter, a so-so SS, and has wonderful baseball instincts. I think he is an asset to the team and will deserve a place in the HOF. But I keep smiling about all those rings they aren't winning. In my mind, the MFY fans have been blaming the wrong guy. It's not ARod's fault.

As to the thread's question, it seemed that when the O's had a system that routinely produced good players all those years ago, most of them played the game the right way. It was something we all took for granted...

[blueberryale77]

Just wondering who you think plays the game the right way, who hustles 100% of the time.

Here's the question though... how do you define "the right way"? Is it just hustle? To me it's a number of things:

• playing hard
• playing "smart"... making sound decisions in the field and on the basepaths; knowing the "cardinal rules"
• situational hitting
• patience at the plate
• doing things like stealing bases in situations where they will help the team, not just pad your stats
• not getting overly flashy in the field
• showing up on time/early and putting in extra work (we may or may not hear about that so it's a little hard to judge)
• taking responsibility for mistakes (again, we only know what the media portrays)
• not showing up teammates/manager/coaches

[wnyoriole]

Cal Ripken Jr.

As for current O's, probably Roberts.

[66-70-83-??]

Cal Ripken Jr.

As for current O's, probably Roberts.

I agree.

But he did have at least one big "moment of weakness".

Here's the question though... how do you define "the right way"? Is it just hustle? To me it's a number of things:

• playing hard
• playing "smart"... making sound decisions in the field and on the basepaths; knowing the "cardinal rules"
• situational hitting
• patience at the plate
• doing things like stealing bases in situations where they will help the team, not just pad your stats
• not getting overly flashy in the field
• showing up on time/early and putting in extra work (we may or may not hear about that so it's a little hard to judge)
• taking responsibility for mistakes (again, we only know what the media portrays)
• not showing up teammates/manager/coaches

Witness the Manny Alexander fiasco. I love Cal, but regardless of whether putting Manny in at SS was right or wrong- Cal didn't handle it in a "professional" manner.

[Chollie Eckman]

What about Ichiro?

[The Wedge]

What about Ichiro?

That's one I was thinking of, too.

[KLINE]

Omar Vizquel, Ozzie Smith, KG Jr, B-Rob, Markakis, CHRIS GOMEZ, Ichiro

[skipshot26]

Brooks.

Belanger.

Blair.

Davy Johnson

Elrod

Don Drysdale

Bob Gibson

Thurmon Munson

I could go on and on.

[Blue Fielder]

Munson was a jerk.

Pete Rose although the betting scandal has over ridden his playing days.

Youk is a great example of a young guy, the Sox shuffled him back and forth to the minors repeatedly and you never heard a word of complaint from the kid. He works hard at his offense and defense, changed positions to accommodate Mike Lowell and has excelled there. He has also been moved all around the lineup without complaining. A true talented young guy who has done what his team has needed and just performed instead of opening his mouth.

[DrungoHazewood]

Davy Johnson

Isn't Davy famous about complaining to Earl about his playing time?

Don Drysdale

Why? Because he hit quite a few batters, and loved to talk about how he hit every 4th batter when he was a national TV announcer?

Thurmon Munson

What did Munson do right/better than anyone else? I remember talk of him being a jerk, too, and I think a lot of guys who die in mid-career get a obituary boost that downplays their negatives.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm of the opinion that most players throughout history have played the game to the best of their abilities, which is as right as it gets in my book. Most of the things pointed out in this thread are nothing more than media concotions, irrelevant or even counterproductive shows, and misinterpretations or misunderstandings of sound bites and isolated incidents.

People constantly used to talk about Billy Ripken playing the game the right way. He hustled all the time, and dove into first base quite a bit which resulted in him spending more time on the DL in any given month than his brother did in 20 years. He hit .230 with no power or walks or speed, but that's ok because he bunted well. He was below-replacement much of his career, but he wore extra eye black, talked about not caring about personal stats, and was always covered in dirt, so he played the game the right way.

I think the player who played the game most right of anyone was Babe Ruth. He contributed more wins than anyone else. That's the right way to play.

[Why Not?]

It's interesting that the pool of players mentioned are almost all guys who hit for average and/or steal bases. Can't a big slugger play the "right way"?